Hello, Suzanne! Tell us about yourself.

I was born in California and still think of myself as a California girl, even though I was forcibly moved to Oklahoma before I had even learned how to surf. I stayed in Oklahoma for the rest of my school years, attended several Oklahoma colleges and finally got a degree that, coupled with my typing speed of 100 words a minute, enabled me to get a job after college that paid a little more than minimum wage. More about that later. Meanwhile, I moved to Denver, thinking of it as only a stop on my road back to California, and I've been here more than 20 years.

Are you coming to mystery writing from another job?

I have had a LOT of other jobs. My first job out of college--which lasted 6 weeks--was as a social worker at a mental hospital, where my job was to fill out a detailed questionnaire on people who were "drying out." I was supposed to talk to them when they'd been in the facility 24 hours and inquire as to a lot of personal information like, how much did they drink, how long did their binges last...and things like that. It was very depressing. Maybe as a reaction to being locked on a windowless floor, I looked for an outdoor job, and became one of the first female telephone installers in Colorado, a job that lasted somewhat longer and had a lot more variety. I have also worked for newspapers as a reporter, editor, proofreader, and managing editor, and I have worked as an editor of textbooks for the mining industry. I've worked as a paralegal, and I have managed marketing research teams. I am currently working part-time, doing various free-lance things and also that job you can't quit, parenting.

What led you to write mysteries? Are you a longtime reader?

I read the usual Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys, Mary Stewart, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Arthur Conan Doyle, and I always admired them, but didn't think I was smart enough to write a mystery. (Because I rarely figured out whodunit, or if I did, then I second-guessed myself.) I wrote a rather long book which agents liked, but said they couldn't sell because they couldn't categorize it, and figured if I wrote a mystery at least it would be easier to categorize. I convinced myself that I was, in fact, smart enough to write a mystery.

Tell us about your road to publication.

Now that it's an accomplished fact it doesn't seem that hard, but I think this is one of those memory things, like forgetting the pain of childbirth. I worked on this for years.

The only reason I learned how to type was so I could become a writer. That was a LONG time ago! I started many novels as a teenager, but never could figure out where to take them after the opening. In college, I wrote a one-act play that was produced on campus and learned that playwrights, at least fledgling ones, need to develop a very thick skin!

My first completed novel, as I said, was not horrible, but not successful, either. An agent recommended that I revise the book completely and gave some suggestions. Her idea was to turn it into romantic suspense, which meant adding both romance and suspense. Unfortunately it also meant retyping the book, which I had typed on a typewriter. Not even an electric typewriter. So that one's in a drawer.

I then bought a computer and spent a couple of years working on the premise: What if Philip Marlow was moved into the 90s, and was female? and black? and pregnant? About midway through this effort I realized that the hospital where I was working as a paralegal was a veritable gold mine of intrigue, mystery, and backstabbing, so I switched my location from Los Angeles to Denver, switched my PI to a hospital risk manager who was neither black nor pregnant but did have a big mouth, and a series was born.

I entered this book in the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers' annual Colorado Gold contest, which gave me a deadline. It was a finalist, so very quickly, before I knew whether it had won, I sent out letters to agents saying it was a finalist in this contest, and including whatever the agents wanted--synopsis, first chapter, first 40 pages. By the time I found out it had NOT won, I had an agent. The agent had a few suggestions, so I spent some months revising, and then it sold to Ballantine. While it didn't seem like a long process, each step took some time. For reference, I wrote the first draft of BAD BLOOD while on maternity leave, with my very small son in my arms, and now he's almost five.

What kind of research was involved for your first book?

Not too much, considering I was in a hospital milieu at the time. I talked to a lot of people. Many, many people were happy to share hospital horror stories with me, on the condition that I never, ever mention their names in connection with the book. I did make a lot of phone calls and had a lot of lunches, but that's the kind of research I don't mind at all. (Actually, I don't mind any kind of research.)

Who are your influences as a writer?

I was always a big fan of Dorothy Parker, for her wit and the way so many of of her lines hit home for me as a teen-ager. I was also impressed by Flannery O'Connor, Jean Rhys, Tillie Olson, Doris Lessing, and Susan Sontag, but I don't know if you could call them influences, because I don't write anything like them. And I don't want it to look like I'm ignoring male authors; some of my favorites are Raymond Chandler, Kurt Vonnegut, and T. Coraghessan Boyle. I've always been a fairly voracious reader and writers who have impressed me include practically everybody I ever read. And I think they have all influenced me.

What does your family think of having a mystery author in their midst?

They think it's great! And it's been a lot of fun watching my four-year-old recognize my book cover in stores ("Hey, Bad Blood!") although I'm sure other people wonder what this child is talking about. My other two sons are teen-agers, and it's hard as a parent not to, like, totally embarrass kids that age, no matter what you do, but they think it's awesome.

Tell us about plans for future books.

The second book, BAD LUCK, is scheduled for release in August. It features the same risk manager, Vicky Lucci, and the same setting. I now have a contract with Ballantine for two more in this series, which will take the publication dates into 2002. I didn't actually set out to write a series, but I ended up with enough material to go on for--well, at least two more books! Hopefully more!

How can readers get in touch with you?

My e-mail address is luxpro@mho.net. My web page, which is new, is suzanneproulx.com.

Thanks for joining us, Suzanne, and best of luck! Readers, we have a review of Bad Blood here at TMR for you.

June 20, 2000